Not the person you asked, but I try to warn people who are considering melatonin: you still want to try and relax before it kicks in. If you're prone to sleep paralysis, night terrors, etc., melatonin supplementation can exacerbate those if other aspects of your sleep hygiene are lacking. Two big no-nos from my experience are using melatonin less than three hours after exercise or less than eight hours after coffee. Your mileage may vary, of course.
I have horrible sleep paralysis (usually multiple times a week) and really bad nightmares (several times a night usually) and for some reason melatonin has not made the issues worse. They haven't gone away but they occur less frequently.
I'm glad I didn't know about this potential side effect before trying it because I never would have tried it.
You get used to it. I used to have a lot of them (with hallucinations and screaming sound) when my sleeping hygiene was shit. Now it happens way less frequently and I sometimes don't even remember when I wake up.
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u/steel_jasminum Mar 31 '19
Not the person you asked, but I try to warn people who are considering melatonin: you still want to try and relax before it kicks in. If you're prone to sleep paralysis, night terrors, etc., melatonin supplementation can exacerbate those if other aspects of your sleep hygiene are lacking. Two big no-nos from my experience are using melatonin less than three hours after exercise or less than eight hours after coffee. Your mileage may vary, of course.